The latest study states that 88% of marketers feel that a distinctive brand voice helps to establish better connections with customers. A customer who feels connected to a brand is often loyal to that brand. This can lead to increased repeat sales and word-of-mouth recommendations. This means you’ll need to spend less time and money attracting new customers and convincing them to convert.
What is Brand Voice?
Brand voice is how a brand speaks to its audience and to the world. It’s the unique personality behind the brand and the character that the brand embodies. If you were to speak to the brand voice, you would know whether it would deliver a sarcastic, humble, supportive, or ironic response.
In other words, brand voice sits at the core of the relationship that customers have with the brand. It enhances connection and community and can increase trust in the brand’s products.
Why Does Brand Voice Matter?
“Brands that talk to everyone don’t talk to anyone,” says Morgan Brown, Vice President of Marketing at Shopify. “Whether brand distinction means what the brand stands for, how the product is made, or how it engages with the audience, consumers are looking for unique experiences and brands they can connect with.”
Developing a brand voice distinguishes your business from the competition, even if you belong to similar product categories or sell the same products. It can impact how consumers perceive your business, build trust, create affinity, or allow people to identify your voice amid the noise.
How to Discover Your Brand Voice
1. Define Your Target Audience
How you speak as a brand largely depends on the people you are talking to. Before you start fine-tuning your brand’s voice, you first need to identify your target audience. For example, you wouldn’t speak the same way to people in their fifties and sixties as you would engage with millennials; otherwise, you risk losing the trust and engagement of customers who are more likely to buy from you.
2. Find Existing Brands or People You Love
If your brand voice could be a mix of two existing brands, celebrities, fictional characters, or public figures, what would those brands or people be?
3. Let Your Creative Ideas Flow with Writing Exercises
You have the ingredients needed to create the perfect brand voice mix. Through some fun writing exercises, we will blend two identities together and add any additional ingredients to get the right voice for your business.
4. Create a Style Guide for Your Brand Voice
Now that you have a firmer understanding of what your brand voice looks like, it’s time to create a style guide that reflects that. A style guide reminds you not only of your personality but also serves as a map for new employees, freelancers, and business partners when they need to write like your brand or gain a deeper understanding of it.
5. Maintain Brand Voice Consistency Across Platforms
As your brand content evolves across different social media platforms, email, text messaging, and your website, it can be challenging to maintain consistency. Different types of customers will visit different platforms, so how will your voice adapt to that while staying true to its core personality?
This is where tone comes into play. Tone gives you the flexibility you need to meet customers where they are across different platforms.
For example, the tone of Girlfriend Collective has varied slightly from platform to platform to match the mood. In their welcome message, the brand uses the slogan, “Waste nothing. Wear it.”
On
On Instagram, the messages about the environment are the same, but the tone is more playful and motivating.
Examples of Brand Voice
Your brand voice can be a significant part of your brand’s personality. It can be calm and powerful. It can be fun and playful, or serious and logical. We’ve gathered a range of voices so you can discover where your brand fits best.
Ironical Voice:
Who Gives a Crap uses a humorous and playful tone to make buying toilet paper more enjoyable. The brand captures your attention with catchy phrases like “Sure, we love puppies and sunny days and beach hikes, but our true love is toilet paper.” It then utilizes this interest to educate its customers about sustainability and the lack of access to toilets for two billion people around the world.
Inspirational Voice:
Patagonia reflects its commitment to sustainability and activism in the language across all its marketing properties. Additionally, the brand voice is consistent and strong, encouraging its customers to get out and join initiatives to save the planet while wearing Patagonia products.
Serious Voice:
Private Stock Labs sells germ-protective masks. The brand’s language is serious and reassuring, referencing certifications and the science behind its products.
Thoughtful Voice:
Raen takes great care in the way it talks about its products. The artisan sunglasses are meticulously crafted by the brand, according to the language used on its website.
Close Voice:
This allows people to feel a direct connection to your brand by understanding why you care. Oxbow Designs does this well, posting videos on its Instagram stories, showcasing its products and pictures of its dog, enhancing the connection between it and its customers.
These are some examples of brand voice, and you can use them to discover your own brand voice and define its personality.
Leave a Reply